If you want to attract insects to your garden and offer them shelter, you don't have to be a great craftsman. You can also build a bug hotel out of cans.
Insects are very useful animals in the home garden. Unfortunately, nature offers them fewer and fewer suitable places to make it easier for the insects to reproduce. So today they are already dependent on our help. You can help the little animals, for example, by building a classic insect hotel. You can also build a catchy house out of a clay pot or make an insect hotel out of a tin. We would like to explain the latter to you in more detail here.
What insects use this insect hotel?
An insect hotel from a tin is particularly suitable for providing wild bees with a suitable place to overwinter. Depending on the filling material, other insects also use the self-built hotel. If you use tall plant stems and tubes, clay wasps and mason bees will feel very comfortable. If you want to create a suitable place for earwigs, it makes sense to use straw as filling material. You should therefore consider before building which insects you want to offer a suitable home.
What you need to build an insect hotel
Often there is an endless list of materials needed to build an insect hotel. Therefore, one could quickly lose the joy of the construction project. An insect hotel in a can is not only quick to build, it also only requires a few materials.
Materials:
❍ a washed, clean can (at least 10 cm high)
❍ desired filling material such as:
- clay
- Bamboo
- Reed
- Straw
- Stalks of raspberries, blackberries, elder or deadwood
- small branches
❍ a long ribbon (e.g.: a cord or a thin wire)
Tool:
❍ sturdy scissors
❍ hot glue gun
❍ pliers
❍ sandpaper
❍ hammer
❍ nail
Insect Hotel Building Instructions
Step 1:
Before you start building, you should remove the label from the can and clean it well. You can take leftover glue with youRemove dishwashing liquid. The can must then dry well.
Step 2:
In order not to injure yourself on the can, you can bend the upper edge inwards with pliers or sand it down with some sandpaper. This step is particularly important if you are making an insect hotel with the children.
Step 3:
Now take the hammer and a large nail and punch small holes in the bottom of the can. This ensures air circulation in the insect hotel.
Step 4:
If you want to build a colorful insect hotel, now is the right time to decorate the tin. For example, you can paint the box with waterproof paints or stick colorful stickers on it. You must then wait for the paint to dry well before beginning the next step.
Step 5:
While the can dries, you can use the time to trim the plant stems or prepare the clay.
Insect hotel with plant stems:
To build an insect hotel with plant stems, the stems must be the same size as the can. Once you have cut all the stalks, you can stuff them into the can. The can must be so full that nothing falls out when you turn it upside down.
Insect hotel with clay:
You can fill the can completely with clay. You can also fill half of the can with plant stems and the other half of the can with clay. Then you have to drill about five centimeters deep holes in the clay. This will help the female insects, because they save themselves the strenuous digging and can move into their new home immediately.
Insect hotel with straw:
If you want to offer earwigs a new home, you can fill the entire can with straw. Here, too, you must ensure that the can is completely filled with straw and that it does not fall out if possible. If that doesn't work out so well, you can later place the insect hotel on the floor instead of hanging it up. Catchy tunes are mainly on the ground anyway and will also move into their new hotel there.
Step 6:
Once you have provided the insect hotel with the desired filling material, you are almost done with the handicrafts. Now all you have to do is decide whether and where you want to hang up the insect hotel. To do this, tie a long piece of string or thin wire around the front and back of the can so that there is a large loop in the middle. To ityou can then hang up the insect hotel.
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Key tips for making a bug hotel out of a can
❶ If you decide to build an insect hotel out of a can, you should first think about which animals you want to offer a new home to. Not every insect likes every filling material.
❷ When filling the can you should make sure that the edges are rounded. This not only prevents injuries to humans, but also protects the sensitive wings of the insects.
❸ Make sure you choose one or at most two different filling materials. Several materials should not be mixed, because many insects do not get along with each other. If you want to use several materials, you can fill several cans with different materials and then glue them together with hot glue. This creates a large insect hotel with different "rooms".
❹ If you plan to hang the insect hotel on a tree, you will need a strong strap. Especially if you want to hang several cans together. Depending on the filling material, these can be very heavy.
❺ The appropriate place is another important point. It is best to hang the new insect hotel on a tree and direct the entrance to the south. This way the entrance is always sunny and the insects find it easier.
❻ Hang the insect hotel in your garden, then make sure that there are many flowering plants nearby. This is very important, especially for bees, because the flowers and perennials serve as a source of food for them.